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The question of consciousness


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Brendan D. Murphy: Etymologically, the word consciousness derives from the words scire (to know) and cum or con (with). Consciousness is “to know with.” So if you, the persona, cognize (to know or be aware of), who are you cognizing with? Is there more to consciousness than the Freudian ego and unconscious? Mathematical physicist Roger Penrose has written: "A scientific world-view which does not profoundly come to terms with the problem of conscious minds can have no serious pretensions of [sic] completeness... I would maintain that there is yet no physical, biological, or computational theory that comes very close to explaining our consciousness or intelligence."

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this is something im getting right into and i watched a good talk by dan dennet have a look see..

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Another of Dennet's talks is here on Youtube:

My understanding of Dennet's view is that there is no central location in the brain where consciousness exists. Consciousness is the result of many areas of the brain cooperating to form a single union. His analogy is a magic trick. To the audience, the trick (conscousness) is something magical, and they can't explain or understand how it is done.

From back stage, how the trick is performed (consciousness) is obvious. The trick is just a combination of separate props working together. From backstage, the trick performed is not magical at all, and it is easily understood.

So, consciousness is like a trick or performance the brain plays for itself. There is no 'magic' involved, except from the perspective of the audience. The 'magic' is the illusion that there is some magic involved in the trick.

Dennet says, "Real magic is not real, and magic that is real is not real magic."

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